Lucknow: The sitting legislator from Fatehpur, Ayodhya Prasad Pal, joined the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

A Samajwadi Party spokesman said Pal, who was a minister in the previous Mayawati government, met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav at his official residence and offered his services to the party.

He was later assimilated into the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Pal said he has faith in the policies of the Samajwadi Party and would now contribute to ensure a win for the party in the forthcoming state assembly polls.

There have been a string of desertions from the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati in the past few months, with senior party leaders like Swamy Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and many legislators also resigning from the party and joining the saffron fold.